Romeoville Leaders Invite People To Visit Antique Car Museum

ROMEOVILLE, IL - If you're into antique cars or trucks, then the Beller Museum might be right up your alley. The unmarked warehouse at 275 Rocbaar Drive contains the private collection of Jordon Beller, a collector of 1928-1932 Ford vehicles. There are 80 vehicles in his unique collection, according to a Village of Romeoville news release.

“They’re rare because they didn’t survive or Ford didn’t make many to begin with,” Beller explained. “Some are rare because people modified them to something they weren’t, like a race car, so to find one that is untouched and original, that’s very uncommon.”

Rarities include a ’32 open cab pickup truck, ’32 panel truck and ‘31 ambulance. The collection also includes a hotrod built by famous World War II era builders Wes Cooper and Kong Jackson, as well as a fire truck, fuel truck, tow truck and the first car he ever bought as a 14 year old.

In addition to the cars, there is a 25,000 piece library containing newspaper pages with every Ford ad ever printed from 1927-1932, magazine ads both foreign and domestic, speed books, body books, part books and instruction books.

“We’ve had people from Russia, China, England, Sweden, Denmark, Canada, and Mexico,”Beller said. “They’re very interested in the subject matter. To go that far to travel Route 66 and to find us online, they’ll easily spend three hours here looking at stuff they don’t see at home.”

Beller said he loves seeing people enjoy his collection. Approaching 80, Beller is now thinking of the future.

“I’d love to find someone who is interested in continuing all or part of this museum. The problem with all museums, even some of the enormous ones, is funding," explained Beller. "I’m able to fund this now, but when I go, the funding goes.”

Beller said he is looking to get someone to develop the funding or a more productive way of getting donations to the museum.

“The other thing would be to make sure everything I have goes to a caring home. This is a 65 year collection of thousands of things and it would be nice if it could end up in somebody’s care and not a landfill.”

If you’d like to explore this treasure trove of automotive history, you can call the museum at 331-888-1225 and make an appointment. Tour slots are available Monday – Thursday from 8:00 a.m. – 2:30 p.m., and there is no cost to look around.

You can also visit the museum website at bellermuseum.com.